Local auto sales declined 55 percent in May

ISTANBUL

Total vehicle sales in Turkey declined by 54.6 percent on an annual basis to 33,016 units in May, data from the Automotive Distributors’ Association (ODD) showed on June 11.

The country’s passenger car market contracted 52.6 percent in the month from a year earlier as sales in this segment declined to 27,126 units versus 57,227 units in May 2018. In the previous month, the passenger car market saw a 55.7 percent decline in sales.

Light commercial vehicles sales dropped 62.1 percent on an annual basis to 5,890 units in May which followed the 59.1 percent contraction in this market in April.

In the first five months of the year, total vehicles sales amounted to 152,456 units, marking a 49.57 percent decline in the same period of 2018.

Passenger car sales declined by 48.7 percent to 120,354 units, while light commercial vehicle sales fell by 52.56 percent to 32,102 units on an annual basis in January-May.

In 2018, Turkey’s automotive industry contracted 35 percent. Last year a total of 620,937 units of passenger cars and light commercial vehicles were sold versus 956,194 units in 2017.

Passenger car sales declined nearly 33 percent to 486,312 units and light commercial vehicle sales fell 42.3 percent to 134,616 in 2017, according to data from the ODD.